27th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival presents “Hammond B-3 Organ Summit” featuring Pat Martino Quartet

It would be fair to ask why a guitar player was selected to headline a B-3 organ summit. In the case of Pat Martino, the answer is clear. En route to becoming one of the most iconic jazz guitarists Martino moved from Philadelphia to Harlem at just 15, cutting his teeth with B-3 organ giants Don Patterson, Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Charles Earland and Jimmy McGriff. Martino became a legend in the late ‘60s with a series of Prestige albums including El Hombre, East! and Desperado, often using the organ trio as his basic rhythm section. But perhaps the most miraculous story in jazz history unfolded with a 1980 brain aneurysm that swept away his memory. Martino eventually reclaimed his technique by listening to his own recordings and has since released a triumphant series of albums for Muse and Blue Note. His current quartet features B-3 master Tony Monaco, who Keyboard Magazine calls “a top-notch Hammond virtuoso.”

Over the past 20 years Larry Goldings has pursued hallowed ground in the realm of ‘60s B-3 great Larry Young. But the Larry Goldings Trio, with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart, has also forged a lithe new concept—equally suited for ferocious funk as lilting bossa novas. The trio demonstrated its groove versatility with a series of ‘90s Blue Note albums backing guitar star John Scofield. In 2007, Goldings appeared in Trio Beyond, a tribute to the original Tony Williams Lifetime with Scofield and monster drummer Jack DeJohnette, which earned a Grammy® Award nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.